WILD PIGS 243 



Mr. Ernest Protheroe gives some interesting figures concerning 

 iiow Pig rearing varies in different stock-raising countries, and 

 remarks that "in the British Isles there are, roughly, four million 

 Pigs to thirty million Sheep and eleven million Cattle. Australasia 

 has but one million Pigs to a hundred million Sheep. The Argen- 

 tine possesses only about three-quarters of a million Swine to 

 seventy-four million Sheep and twenty-one million Cattle; but in 

 the United States are forty million Pigs to about the same number 

 of Sheep and Cattle. Austria, Russia and Germany are also big 

 Swine raisers, the two former possessing about ten million each, 

 while the last-named has half as many again. These figures show 

 the immense importance of Swine in providing food for man. Pork 

 is the most popular meat in France and many countries in Europe. 

 In Chicago alone there are firms which each kill twenty-five thousand 

 hogs a day; and in a single year the United States sends to the 

 United Kingdom alone, bacon and hams to the value of 

 ;^u, 000,000." (Vide The Handy Natural History.) 



It is probable that the Domestic Swine found in various parts 

 of the world are descended from either the European Wild Pig or 

 the Indian kind, but frequent interbreeding and crossing have taken 

 place to such an extent that it is difficult to arrive at a correct 

 solution of this interesting problem. 



What has already been written of the Wild Boar applies almost 



equally well to all the species that are illustrated, but a few further 



notes may be given as to some of these and other kinds. The various 



species are allocated to different genera; thus the European Wild 



Boar is accorded pride of place among the true Pigs in the genus 



Sits, and the same remark applies to its Indian cousin (Fig. 190). 



INDIAN WILD PIG.— Many Zoologists are of opinion that the 



latter is not specifically distinct from its European relative, but it 



may be pointed out that it is a taller animal, has a thinner coat of 



hair and no under-fur, and is characterized by a crest or mane of 



long black bristles which run from the nape of the neck along the 



back, and there are distinguishing differences in regard to the teeth 



which need not be detailed. 



OTHER WILD PIGS.— In the Andaman Islands there is a smaller 



species inhabiting the forests which has a shaggy coat and short 



tail; then there is the Pigmy Hog, which inhabits the forests "at 



the foot of the Himalayas in Bhutan, Sikhim and Nipal," this 



small species being no larger than a Hare. In the Malayan region, 

 R 2 



